Assassins Tales
by Bowburn
Summary: The account of one assassins mission


Author's notes:

ok my first RO fic heh. Wrote this at the request of my guild mates posted it in a few different places but reviews would be nice. This is a fairly short one shot, I had plans to write more but uni work keeps getting in the way, there was no prereader used. One final note theres actually no speech in this except for skill use, I just find that amusing.

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Lying on a hillside, enjoying the warm sun Cain turned his view to the city far off in the valley. Despite the distance it was easy to make out the castle, city walls and even the busy markets of Prontera. Thousands of people poring in and out of its gates every minute travellers, traders, adventurers and somewhere in that shifting mass of people was his target. Takings his view back from the bustling city, Cain looked up into the trees and thought back to the job he'd taken two weeks ago in Morroc.

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It was a simple job find the target, a young and apparently promising mage by the name of Elzrik, eliminate him, destroy his research and retrieve a certain magical orb, the eye of surt, that should be in his possession the pay was good, five hundred thousand zenny, as was Cain's way half up front and half when the job was completed. However Elzrik was a man who knew how to hide, no one in Geffen has seen or heard from him in over a month and none of Cain's usual contacts were of any use. To Cain this meant one thing Elzrik knew that he'd be hunted for what he was trying and probably always did and that was a problem, a man who had this much time to plan would be very hard to find but Cain was an assassin trained for as long as he could walk to hunt and kill, it was only a matter of time until he found the wayward mage.

As it happened finding Elzrik was not as hard as Cain first thought it might be, mages by nature are not subtle beings. Flashy and loud in practice, calling upon the forces of nature to protect them selves and cause harm to others has that effect. So the passing of a mage through an area is generally hard to miss especially someone as talented as Elzrik, reportedly able to cast a number of high-level wizard spells, finding a trail took mere days. The reports of mysterious flashes in the night sky headed to Prontera brought Cain this far, the intel he had received of an exotic trader travelling the land of Midgard from places in the far east only reinforced his suspicions.

The trader a man by the name of Alhazred had already made stops in Alberta and Payon now he was supposed to be heading to Prontera. His wears reportedly contained many exotic magical ingredients either impossible or extremely difficult to obtain in Midgard such things Elzrik was desperate to obtain. Not one to pry too much into the histories of his targets Cain had not asked for the full details of why Elzrik was to die the main points were all there powerful mage, wanting more power, demonic pacts, danger to the world. The ritual Elzrik will be attempting requires at least fifty human sacrifices but as is usually the case with these things the more lives given the more powerful the result, knowing the extent of Elzriks ambition he would destroy all of Prontera to achieve his goals.

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Through reflecting on the past Cain roused him self from his hillside spot, donned his sakkat and with the slightest of movements disappeared into the trees. A slight breeze, this was the only outward sign of the assassins passing. To the casual traveller nothing was amiss, to the stout observer a pleasant summers wind roused the trees but Cain was there. Moving with speed and stealth unmatched outside his class he headed for the gates already calculating the various outcomes of every possible situation he could encounter. The plan to take out his target was simple locate where Elzrik was staying and lie in wait when he returns to rest take him out, there were of course many things that could go wrong and for everyone of them Cain had a back up. His talent for planning had earned him the nickname of the Warmaster sin by his peers and it was the reason he was chosen for this particular job, straight out violence or overpowered fighting against enemies with the elementals at their command would only end badly, careful planning was needed to ensure success.

Reaching the gate Cain bound over the wall and onto the rooftops of the grand city in one fluid movement stopping to take in his position he remained cloaked, not even the trained Prontera knights had noticed his arrival all was going according to his original scenario now he had to find Alhazred. This wasn't hard. The arrival of such a prominent traveller had gathered attention, a large crowed had assembled where Alhazred was setting up his shop. Many of the crowed were just on lookers drawn to the mass of people only to see what the fuss was about few were interested buyers, taking up position above the shop Cain waited for the crowed to disperse and his target to be reviled.

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An hour passed and the only customers were two alchemists, a blacksmith and a hunter this was unimportant their purchases were what interested Cain, Elzrik wouldn't take the risk of buying the items himself if he knew he was hunted he would have a plan it was Cains job to see through it. There were three items Elzrik needed from Alhazred none of them had been purchased yet. Then it happened quick and clean one of the items was snatched, there was a rogue he moved skilfully but he was no assassin Cain could see him and he watched as the rogue took another of the items along with some other trinkets.

He was methodical, deliberate and slow, moving to achieve his objectives while maintaining the façade of the common thief taking the items Elzrik would need as well as a few others to cover his tracks. The rogue's accomplice kept Alhazred busy during all of this and once he was done they both moved off into the crowd, the rogue handed off the unimportant loot to his accomplice and headed to the back alleys, Cain in close pursuit. The rogue as professional as he'd seemed earlier was cocky, once away from the vendors he dropped his defences. It would have been a simple task to eliminate him had that been the job but Cain followed silently, gliding from rooftop to rooftop almost effortlessly.

After twenty or so minuets the rogue reached the drop point, Elzrik was no here either another protective step in his complex planning. Instead the rogue hid the loot and moved on while Cain waited patiently he knew that no matter the planning these items would show him the route to Elzrik. The sun had long ago set and a clear night illuminated Prontera with ethereal light, still Cain waited hidden on the roofs of the city he watched the drop point. There was a faint gleam, Cain focused coming to full readiness it shone again very small and dim bit it was there it was Elzrik he had a guard muffler and he was heading for the drop point.

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Cain moved very, very slowly and prepared to follow the mage as he retrieved his supplies and quickly moved down the ally. Keeping distance the assassin moved with such care that even the dust of the roofing tiles remained entirely static, he watched and followed as Elzrik moved this way and that weaving a complex pattern across the city finally stopping at a small run down inn far away from the bustle of the market streets.

Knowing now his definite location Cain stopped and planned his next move as well as the hundreds of possible variations, he had three nights until the full moon when Elzrik would begin the ritual he must be taken out before then. Examining the building closer Cain noted it was a small two-floored inn estimating sixteen rooms eight of which were likely guest rooms only two appeared to be occupied. The mage was most probably in the front left room this was the only one giving an adequate view of the moon. There were many routes Cain could take now, with the three day limit he had time to go back into the city and find specialist equipment to deal with Elzrik or hire mercenaries to do the job for him the draw backs in either of these scenarios however was too great the chance that Elzrik would now move to a new location was high and Cain could not risk loosing him.

Deciding of the simplest approach the assassin made his move in seconds he was gone from the roofs onto the inn and entered through one of the unoccupied rooms, still maintaining his cloak. He would find Elzriks room and wait for the mage to sleep before delivering the fatal blow from the shadows. Cain's previous estimates proved correct the mage was in the far left forward facing room, currently examining the items he had acquired, the guard muffler discarded on the floor. He looked, as one would expect a scholar too, average height around five feet, neat hair, clean face topped with small half rimmed glassed wearing only a, no doubt magically enhanced, robe his hat at the base of the bed.

The room was small, a bed in the far corner near the window a desk littered with paper notes and a wardrobe near the door light provided by a single candle on the desk, a fight in such close quarters would be problematic and best avoided. Moving into position at the head of Elzriks bed would prove no difficulty while he was distracted by his work, then all he had to do was wait.

A knock at the door interrupted the mage, taking a dagger from his desk he moved and opened it a crack. It was the night porter with a meal, pocketing the knife Elzrik took the food and returned to his work picking absentmindedly at the bread and soup provided. Then he saw it, reflected in his glasses, the smallest of shimmers, light sparking off metal. Startled he jumped up, knocking over his chair and preparing to fight with a cry of "SIGHT!" he called forth the revealing flames to find his would be attacker but he had moved. Panicked Elzrik back up to the wall franticly searching for the assassin, there by the wardrobe another shimmer "FROST DIVER!" the icy wake sped towards the furniture at incredible speed obliterating it in a shower of ice and splinters, but he was gone again, by the bed another shimmer "FROST DIVER!" the bed destroyed in an instant again his assailant had moved.

Shaking and sweating profusely Elzrik thought of one last way to find him grinning madly he called on the elements of air raising his arms he cried out "THUNDER STORM!" the mighty shout charged the air as lightening coalesced and began to strike the ground at random with might blasts. The chair, table, fragments of the bed, floor, everything that was hit exploded into fire one, two, three, four the strike continued Elzrik was cackling to him self in madness no one would kill him he would finish his work. Five, six, seven, eight, nine the strikes continued, reaching their peak the last one blowing a hole clean through the floor. By this point the whole room was ablaze the flames quickly consuming everything. Elzrik still in his corner oblivious to the utter destruction he had called forth laughed louder he wouldn't be stopped so easily, he was a genius, he would finish his plans. A falling roof timber cut short his triumph trapped and unconscious the flames consumed him and the small inn.

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Outside in the alleyway the body of the night porter lay by the door way clad in only his undergarments. Satisfied with his work Cain removed his disguise and returned the bottle of hallucinogenic poison to the folds of his robe moving off into the night as quietly as he had came, while the inn burned to the ground. Now it was a simple matter of returning when the fire had run its course and retrieving the eye of Surt before leaving Prontera to collect his full payment in Morroc another job completed.

End

Final Notes:

FFnet keeps eating my nice spacer so i had to settle for a simple dash line /

i may write more in this series when i get the time and depending on people comments


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